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Uncommon Knowledge: Jason Riley On “False Black Power?”
What is “false black power?” According to Jason Riley, author of False Black Power?, it is political clout, whereas true black power is human capital and culture. Riley and I dive into the arguments in Riley’s new book, the history of African Americans in the United States, and welfare inequality in black communities.
Riley discusses the Moynihan report of 1965, which documented the rise of black families headed by single women in inner cities and how this report was something black sociologists had already been writing about for several years. He argues that there was clearly a breakdown of the nuclear family and that this is a result of the “Great Society” welfare programs of the 1960s rather than the legacy of slavery or Jim Crow laws.
Riley proposes a solution of advocating for more school-choice vouchers, which allow black parents to take better control of their children’s futures and place them in the best schools for them. He also argues for reducing social safety nets, making them a more temporary form of welfare rather than the multigenerational welfare system currently in place.
Recorded on February 21, 2019.
Published in General
Interesting. Any idea of how many pages of the book are spent on the writings of these black sociologists?
Thank you, Peter. God bless Jason Riley.
Interesting conversation. One thought: Was the Moynihan report more noticed because it had a certain government imprimatur v. the black sociologists who had been writing before and/or was the narrative of what would ‘help’ the blacks already set and the report did not fit the template. Perhaps Mr. Riley writes about this more in his book?
It seems that some of Mr. Riley’s observations about “human” capital and culture vs. “political” capital could be applied to many other issues – maybe political power is not as useful as those who want to wield political power say it is.
The US would benefit from more younger thinkers like Jason Riley. The marvelous Walter E. Williams and Thomas Sowell come from an earlier generation. Their writings are still as true as ever, but many young people won’t listen to “old people.” Jason Riley is great for a current generation, but it would help to have more of his generation, and then to build the next generation.
And unfortunately, many younger people will hear these points only if made by a Black person.
Great episode and discussion. I need to read Jason Riley’s books.
My one minor critique is unrelated to this specific episode. What happened to the classical music in the intro? Like the music for Firing Line, it gave the impression that one was about to listen to and be challenged by a serious intellectual discussion.
I got a lot out of this podcast. I’m guessing that, for Jason Riley, doing good is its own reward.
Bingo.